Comments on: College Courses for $99/month?http://neoacademic.com/2009/09/05/college-courses-for-99month/
technology, education and training research from an industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologist in the ivory towerMon, 11 Dec 2017 15:01:50 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1By: Shawnahttp://neoacademic.com/2009/09/05/college-courses-for-99month/#comment-270
Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:42:51 +0000http://neoacademic.com/?p=368#comment-270Hmm…well, big state-affiliated universities may not have “flexible” funding, but the sheer force of the numbers involved is still impressive. In other words, we may have budget problems, but our budget is still huge.

I think the biggest problem that will face new styles of education will be the inertia of reputation. Brick-and-mortar establishments have the most respect. Technology moves quickly, but human evaluative modes don’t.

]]>By: Richard N. Landershttp://neoacademic.com/2009/09/05/college-courses-for-99month/#comment-241
Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:49:05 +0000http://neoacademic.com/?p=368#comment-241I don’t know if this model really affects education at that level in most universities or liberal arts colleges. It is really poised as an alternative to the entire brick-and-mortar education system in general. I think a university refusing to teach online courses might only hasten its path to the grave as it is overtaken by younger, more financially competitive institutions.
]]>By: Shawnahttp://neoacademic.com/2009/09/05/college-courses-for-99month/#comment-239
Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:18:32 +0000http://neoacademic.com/?p=368#comment-239Thanks for the heads-up on this new form of online education. Right now, Penn State encourages its older PhD candidates (the ones who should’ve been out of here already) to volunteer to teach its online “WorldCampus” courses. Doing so will theoretically allow the younger PhD candidates (like me) to have the option to teach more literature courses. It also gives these slowpokes financial support longer than the department otherwise could give it.

But if my own situation comes to this crossing, I’m going to refuse to teach online courses. It cheapens our labor by making it potentially infinitely repeatable. University bureaucrats would be thrilled if they only needed, say, one faculty member for Victorian Studies, one for Modernism, etc, to cover the enter campus’ worth of students. You might call me out for a slippery-slope argument, but where the budget is concerned, hysteria is typically justified.